Method of garment manufacture



Oct. 148', 1938. E. A. LocKwooD METHOD OF GARMENT MANUFACTURE Filed June 2, 19:57

2 Sheets-Sheet ll gmc/rm.

EUGENE LocKwooD Oct. 18; 1938. n. A. LocKwooD M'ETHOD` UF GARMENT MANUFACTURE Filed June 2, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheerl 2 EUGEHEA. Locxwooo Patented Oct. 18, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a method and means for constructing and attaching a pocket tc a garment and more especially to a pre-fabricated welt which is used in the construction of the pocket and as an attaching strip whereby the pocket is joined to an outer garment.

Heretofore, it has been the practice to fold a welt strip upon itself and secure it to the upper outer edge of the pocket by stitching the same at each end of the welt and to the top of the pocket fabric. This folded strip, when secured to an outer surface, constitutes the top outer edge of the pocket, but before the pocket is secured to an outer garment it is necessary to then clip the top of the welt a substantial amount at points immediately adjacent the stitched ends of the folded welt so that the intermediate portion between the clips can be folded down and its entire length stitched to an outer garment by an ordinary sewing machine. This clipping operation after the welt had been sewed in position on the pocket prior to the fastening of the pocket to the garment, has proven to be very expensive, in fact, this clipping consumes one-third of what is known as the serging operation on the pocket.

It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a method and means for prefabricating this welt strip prior to its being sewed onto the pocket to thereby eliminate this subsequent clip- 30 ping operation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus for cutting spaced parallel slits in a plurality of welt strips, comprising a pair of spaced knives secured to a movable slide, a base member upon which the welt strips are adapted to be placed, one above the other, and means for operating the spaced knives relative to said base member to punch spaced slits in a plurality of welt strips at one operation. By using this appa- 40 ratus one person can pre-fabricate enough welt strips in a short time to supply the demands of an ordinary garment manufacturing business for many months, since several dozen welts are punched in one operation which only takes a few 45 seconds to complete.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the 4accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is an elevation of a punching apparatus used for punching slits in a plurality of welt strips at one operation;

Figure 2 is a sectional, plan view taken along line 2-2 in Figure 1:

Figure 3 is a sectional, detail, plan view taken along line 3 3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an isometric View of the knives used for punching spaced holes in the welt strips;

Figure 5 is an isometric view of a single welt strip after it has been punched with spaced slits therein, by the knives shown in Figures 1 and 4;

Figure 6 is an isometric view of a pocket strip after the pocket facing and welt strips have been sewed thereon;

Figure '7 is an isometric view of the parts shown in Figure 6 after the serging operation has been completed in which the pocket strip is folded upon itself and the ends of the pocket facing and welt strip have been secured to the back side of the pocket;

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8 8 in Figure 7;

Figure 9 is a view of a portion of an outer garment showing a slit cut therein to provide an opening for attaching the pocket, shown in Figure 7;

Figure 10 is an isometric, detail view showing the position of the welt of the pocket and the outer garment, shown in Figure 9, as they are being stitched together;

Figure 11 is an isometric view of an outer garment showing the pocket after it has been stitched and bar-tacked to the garment;

Figure 12 is a vertical sectional view taken along line I2-I2 in Figure 11.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral I Il indicates a suitable base member which supports upright legs I I and I2, said legs having secured to the upper end thereof a lintel I3. This lintel has secured thereto vertically disposed grooved guides I4 and I5 between which a slide I6 is adapted to have vertical movement. This slide has an upwardly extending rack I1 which has teeth in one side thereof normally engaging a pinion I8. The pinion I8 is xedly secured on stud shaft I9 which shaft has secured on its other end a lever for operating the rack I1 and its associated slide I6 relative to the base member I0. The lower end of slide IS has a member 22 secured thereto by any suitable means such as bolts 23. The bolts 23 penetrate the member 22, slide I6, as well as a washer plate 24 placed on the rear side thereof, Figure 3. A slot 22a, is provided in the member 22 in order that this member may be adjusted relative to the slide I6. Adjustably secured in the ends of the member 22 are knives 25 which knives are secured to the member 22 by means of stud bolts 26. These knives have slots 26a therein which will also permit adjustment of the lower ends of these knives relative to the base member IIJ.

It will be noted thatthe pinion I8 has a space I 8a which has no gear teeth therein and this portion actsas a stop to limit the downward movement of the slide I6 and its associated parts. By utilizing the adjustments made possible by the slots 22a and 26a, it is possible to determine very accurately the stopping point of the lower edge of the knives 25 when they are in a lowermost postion.

A pair of spacing blocks 28 are placed on top of the base member I which are so constructed that the space therebetween will accommodate a stack of welt facing strips 29. When these strips are placed between the blocks 28 then the lever 20 is rotated in a clockwise manner in Figure 1 to cause the knives to move downwardly to punch slits 30 near each end of the strips 29.

It is ofcourse evident that the above operation takes very little time and in addition to this fact, many welt facings can be punched at a time. After this operation each welt facing strip 29 is folded upon itself and sewed to the lower end of a piece of pocket Ymaterial 35 by means of a row of stitches 36 in the manner shown in Figure 6.

The piece of pocket material 35 has a pair of sight notches 3l cut near the upper portion thereof in Figure 6. These notches are merely indicating marks to guide the seamstress in placing a suitable pocket facing strip 38 on the pocket material 35. This facing material 38 is of a slightly shorter Width than the pocket material so that the strip may be placed thereon without concealing the notches from View. When the facing 38 is properly positioned, it is secured to the'pocket material 35 by means of a row of stitches 39.

The pocket material 35 also has another pair of sight notches '40 which are used tol indicate the position at which the top edge of the welt strip 29 is to be placed prior to the serging operation. After the strip of material 35 is folded upon itself in the manner shown in Figures 7 an'd 8, the edges of the pocket are sewed together and sheared in what is known as the serging operation, leaving an opening 42 in the upper edge thereof. When the parts are thus sewed together, it is seen that the facing 38 is also secured at each end under the serging stitch 43 together with the end portions 29a and 29o of the welt 29. This leaves the intermediate portion 29h free, so that the upper portion of the pocket 35 and facing 38 can be doubled upon itself while being attached to an outside fabric such as 44 in the manner shown in Figure 10. The fabric 44 has a slit 45 cut therein so that four flaps can be folded therefrom. These aps more specifically, are designated by the reference characters 45a, 45h, 45o and 45d. The fiap 45a is turned inwardly upon the inside portion of fabric 44 and then placed upon the intermediate welt portion 29h of the welt 29. Both of these layers are placed beneath a suitable presser foot 45 of a sewing machine and a row of stitches 41 is placed in these layers to join the fabrics together. If it were not for the end slits 30 in each end of the welt 29, it would be impossible to place the row of stitches 41 close to the ends of the welt 2gb. On the other hand, by providing these slits, it makes it easier to fold the upper portion of the pocket upon itself and place both layers of fabrics which are desired to be joined together, beneath a presser foot and sewed together (Figure l0) Also, by prefabricating this piece of material, it not only saves time which is necessary to clip the same prior to securing the pockets to the outer fabric 44, but a greater degree of uniformity in the slits is obtained. The human element enters into the clipping of these end slits and very often the slits are cut too deep or too shallow thus resulting in an imperfect garment.

The next step in the formation of the pocket is to fold the lower edge of flap 45h inwardly upon itself and stitch the same to the piece of pocket material as at said stitches being adapted to penetrate the upper edge of pocket facing 38 as well as the pocket material 35. An additional row of stitches 52 is placed at the upper edge of the pocket material 35 to secure this material to the outer garment`44.

The flaps 45h and 45d are folded inwardly upon themselves in the manner shown in Figure l0 and then suitable bar-tacks 53 and 54 are placed through the end aps 45D, 45d and 45o, and the fabric 44 and welt portion 29h to secure all of the portions at this point together; however, prior to the placing of the bar-tacks the row of stitches 41 is also placed at the ends as Well as through the pocket welt to temporarily secure all of the parts in the proper position. The bar-tacks are merely used as an additional re-inforcement for the ends of the pockets.

By providing a pre-fabricated welt 29 as shown,

. it is seen that the ends 29a and 29e are also secured beneath the serge stitches 43 thereby firmly securing the welt in position on the pocket. It is very essential that the end portions be properly secured since the welt is of vital importance when the pocket is secured to an outer fabric.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention lbeing set forth in the appended claims.

I claim: Y

1. That method of forming a pocket which comprises forming a pair of spaced slits in a welt fabric, doubling said fabric upon itself so that the fold line traverses said slits to form an intermediate welt and two end welts, securing the folded edges of said fabric to one end of a piece of pocket material, then folding said pocket material upon itself and securing the end wclts in the side edges of said pocket, cutting a second slit of a shorter length than said intermediate welt in a garment material and then securing the intermediate welt to the material adjacent the second slit.

2. That method 'of forming a welt on a pocket which comprises forming a pair of parallel spaced transversely disposed slits in a rectangular piece of welt material, spaced a predetermined distance apart, and which extend short of the edges of the piece of welt material, folding the piece of welt material along its longitudinal center to cause the fold line to biseet said slits, stitching said edges to one end of the piece of pocket material, forming a suitable slit in a garment, overlapping the folded Welt portion which is disposed between said first slits with one edge of said second slit, and stitching said folded Welt portion to the material adjacent said slit in the garment.

3. That method of forming a pocket in a garment which comprises forming a plurality of welt pieces, simultaneously cutting a pair of transverse spaced parallel slits a predetermined distance apart in said welt pieces, and which are disposed adjacent the ends of said welt pieces, folding said Welt pieces along their longitudinal center so that portion disposed between the slits, overlapping the line of fold traverses said slits, stitching the said Welt portion with one edge of said second edges of a folded welt piece to one end of a piece slit in the garment material and securing the of pocket material, doubling said piece of pocket intermediate folded Welt portion to the material material and securing its sides together to form a adjacent the slit in the garment. 5 pocket, forming a slit in the garment material of a shorter length than the intermediate folded welt EUGENE A. LOCKWOOD. 

